THE POWER OF THE CROSS
22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:22–25 (NKJV)
We recently spent some time with family in Sedona, AZ. The area is filled with natural beauty of red sandstone formations, Pine forests, and rushing water from streams in the valleys below. When you enter the city, huge buttes of red sandstone look like towers. My wife described them as looking like the drip sandcastles she would make growing up near the beaches in San Clemente. It truly is a beautiful place and another testament to God’s amazing creation.
The city however, is filled with new age mysticism and there are countless shops that sell rocks or crystals that are said to have “healing power”, or the ability to “reduce stress”, or connect you to the “spiritual realm”. The city is also said to be in a geomagnetic vortex, and people come from all over to experience the “energy” and “life changing power” from the rock formations.
But amidst all of this new age deception, there is a place called cathedral rock, seemingly at the center of the Sedona area. In the 1950’s, a church called Capel of the Holy Cross was built there. At the base of a 1,500 foot cliff is a chapel surrounded by the red sandstone formations
that Sedona is famous for. It is a simple but beautiful chapel with a 90 foot Cross at the center that serves as the chapel’s major structural support. How appropriate right? This powerful cross supports the entire structure. Jesus is at the center. The cross stands high on a hill for the surrounding area to see. High above the darkness and deception in the city, is the Cross of Christ, the Symbol of salvation and the forgiveness of sin.
Vs. 24 of the passage says of Jesus, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed”
It says that Jesus willfully bore our sins….He willfully paid the price of our sin by dying on the cross. The Bible says that all have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God, and without Jesus, we have no power over sin and death. But Jesus, by bearing our sin and dying on the Cross, dealt with sin once and for all. Jesus paid the price for ALL sin…past, present, and future. And because He rose from the dead, He alone has the power and authority to forgive us and remove the separation that was between us and the Father. There is real power in the Cross of Christ. I like what vs. 25 says. “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls”.
I can’t help but think about and pray for all of the lost sheep we saw in Sedona. They were looking for answers in all the wrong places. The rocks and crystals that they were buying don’t have the power to heal, but the God who made them does. The beautiful sandstone rock formations don’t have the power to change your life, but the God who created them does. As they are looking to these rock formations for power, I pray they will see the Cross that stands at the center. I pray they would start to believe that the Cross has true power, life changing power, because of what Jesus did.
As Christians, we were all like them once. We were “like sheep going astray”, but we surrendered our lives to Jesus. We “returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls”. There are lost people everywhere we look: family members, coworkers, servers at restaurants, baristas, auto mechanics, parents at a kid’s baseball game…anyone that you encounter day to day. It is our job to point them to Jesus. Point them to where the life changing power is, power to change someone’s life for eternity. Jesus has that power. Tell someone about Jesus this season.
Matthew Levchak, Assisting Pastor
